It sounded like an odd position to take for a first-time Republican candidate for the legislature, and now it’s changed.

MIKE BELL of Edinburg, who is running for the GOP nomination to the House from the 96th District, said back in October at his Springfield campaign announcement that he would consider keeping the Illinois income tax at its current level if the extra revenue were used to meet long-term obligations of public pension systems.

But the word last week?

“I’m not for extending it,” Bell said. “When I said that earlier, I hadn’t talked to all of the people yet.”

He said that in gathering signatures for nominating petitions and doing other campaigning, he’s probably talked to 3,000 to 4,000 potential constituents.

“And the feeling I get after talking to all these people is, ‘We’re taxed enough,’” he said.

The state’s individual income tax was raised in 2011 from 3 percent to 5 percent, under a plan that would have it drop back down to 3.75 percent in 2015. That will create a hole in the state budget for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1, of $1.3 billion, according to an estimate from Gov. PAT QUINN’s budget office.

I talked to Bell the day after another candidate for the Republican nomination in the 96th, LANDON LAUBHAN of Springfield, made his formal campaign announcement in Rochester. Laubhan said he would want to return the income tax to its “original position as soon as possible,” and would also like to talk about trying to decrease it.

Bell, as others, said when asked last week how he would fill the budget gap if the income tax is lowered on schedule that one way would be to “scrub” the Medicaid rolls to “see who really is eligible and who is not.”

If votes of others lawmakers did extend the income tax increase, Bell added, “I would hope that they would do exactly what I said — use it for the unfunded pension liability.”

Laubhan talked a lot about job creation, as does Bell. Bell is on Christian County’s economic development board, and said he’s been able to talk to many employers. He said many of those talks came during “retention” visits to find out how best to help companies maintain existing jobs, as well as add new ones. He said he hears a lot that the state has to get its “fiscal house in order.”

Meanwhile, Bell also disagrees with Laubhan on some other issues. Laubhan said he thinks teachers should be able to carry concealed guns in schools, under the state’s new law. Bell is a former teacher and is now vice president of the school board in Edinburg.

“I would never want guns to be carried by my teachers or administrators,” Bell said. “I just think you’re opening up a can of worms” with a “potential for problems.”

Lauban also told JIM LEACH on WMAY-AM that he would allow guns in amusement parks.

“I just couldn’t imagine that,” Bell said of guns being carried by school staff or in amusement parks.

Laubhan also said having the state minimum wage come down from the current $8.25 to the federal level of $7.25 would be “fine with me.”

Not so with Bell.

“I would be for keeping it where it’s at,” Bell said.

Laubhan, who moved to Springfield from Oklahoma three years ago, has an uphill battle here. Bell, who is co-chair of the Project 29 committee that is pushing for a four-lane expressway between Springfield and Taylorville, has backing of Sangamon and Christian county Republican organizations, as well as the statewide House Republican Organization. GOP House Minority Leader JIM DURKIN of Western Springs was at Bell’s announcement.

The winner of the primary will face the winner of the Democratic primary — state Rep. SUE SCHERER of Decatur or challenger GINA LATHAN of Springfield.

Proud mother

Former Circuit Judge ANN CALLIS of Edwardsville, a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. House in the 13th Congressional District, last week asked her supporters to help make her Army ranger son’s birthday “something extra special.”

In emails, Callis asked people to sign a card for Elliot Corey.

“Words cannot express my appreciation for our military service members who, like Elliot, sacrifice their own personal needs to put others first,” she wrote.

The older of Callis’ two children, Elliot, turned 25 on Friday. Callis and her first husband, Scott Corey of Granite City, to whom she was married about three years, both attended the ceremony at Fort Benning, Ga., in November when their son graduated from ranger training. He was recently deployed to Kuwait, and I asked Callis about this last week.

“I’m very proud of him,” she said. “He is serving his country, and he is well trained. It’s scary now that he’s deployed.” She noted she’s going through what “millions of other American families” have experienced. She said her son’s service gives her a “personal perspective” on foreign policy.

“I’ve always been aware of what’s going on the Middle East … but now I’m hyper-aware,” Callis said.

When Callis was chief judge in Madison County, she worked to create the first “veterans court” in the state, designed to divert former military personnel accused of nonviolent crimes into programs designed to treat special problems such as substance abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Elliot Corey was quarterback on the football team and valedictorian at Triad High School in Troy. He graduated from Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., where he studied government and Arabic. His mother said she doesn’t know much about his mission, but he texted that he is commander of a platoon in a mechanized unit and in a rapid reaction force, and is assigned to the United States Central Command in the region.

She said Elliot is in the service for up to five years.

Callis also has a daughter, 21-year-old CAROLINE RONGEY, who is a senior at St. Louis University and is in her first year of student teaching. Her father is Callis’ second husband, ROBERT RONGEY of Granite City, to whom she was married for about four years.

Callis, 49, of Edwardsville, has been married to her current husband, attorney James Holloran, since 2001.

“I don’t think I’m different than a lot of American families that have personal issues,” Callis said of her family situation. She said the “happy ending” is that she has “two great children.”

Callis is running in the March 18 Democratic primary against George Gollin and David Green, both of Champaign. On the Republican side, U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis of Taylorville faces Erika Harold of Urbana and Mike Firsching of Moro in their party’s contest.

Among those supporting Callis are U.S. Sen. DICK DURBIN of Springfield, the state AFL-CIO and Champaign County Young Democrats.

“Our campaign honors the service of her son and hopes for his safe return,” said Gollin campaign manager MONICA BIDDIX. She added that 2014 “is not going to be the year for incumbents or insiders. … We are running a true grass-roots campaign.”

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